


Shadows

by delusional_imagination



Series: FrostIron Headcannons [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Arc Reactor, FrostIron - Freeform, M/M, Shadows - Freeform, sleeping, this is adorable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-03
Updated: 2014-03-03
Packaged: 2018-01-14 10:03:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1262218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delusional_imagination/pseuds/delusional_imagination
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki thinks he's asleep when he does it, but when it happens Tony can't go back to sleep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tony

Tony had slept with his shirt off for most of his life, finding it easier for some reason.  Then the arc reactor happened, and he still slept with no shirt on.  Even when Loki came into his life (no, not the New York disaster, after that) he still slept with his shirt off, the blue light flooding the room with a calming radiance.  At first, Tony had believed that Loki hated the light during the night, the blue making his skin appear a dulled version of his Jotun form.  He knew Loki hated bringing up the past unless it was absolutely necessary to do so (like the incident with the pickles and the fire hydrant) so he avoided anything that may trigger Loki.

Only later (later being at about two o'clock in the morning on a Wednesday) Tony had woken up from what had started as a peaceful night of sleep.  But, since he was up now, there was no falling back asleep.  Before he opened his eyes, there was a change in the light around him, the light surrounding the bed in a blue veil.  It was a subtle change, but it was still there, and Tony's mind had instantly jumped to the worst situation that could be going on.  

_Is there someone in here?  Hovering over me, waiting for me to open my eyes so when they kill me, they can see the fear and pain enter my eyes and die just as quickly.  Who could it be?_ A slim finger touched the outside of the reactor softly and Tony knew who it was within seconds,  _Loki?  What is he doing?  Was our relationship a ruse just so he could get close to me and then kill me?_

Being Tony, he opened one eye slowly, keeping his breathing as slow as possible to appear asleep.  When he opened his eyes, he was shocked at what he saw.  It was Loki, like he had guessed, his fingers moving over the reactor, occasionally touching it with care.  Tony didn't want or need to move his head to be able to tell that Loki was staring at the ceiling and not at Tony.  But what he was looking at was strange.  Loki's slim fingers kept moving, creating shadow puppets from the arc reactor's light.

Tony didn't know what do to.  Should he attempt to fall asleep again, bringing up what he had seen the next morning?  Should he tell Loki he was awake now?  Or should he witness the story Loki was telling with his hands?  The hands Tony loves holding and kissing and gripping when the sensations become too much for both of them to handle.  The hands that moved with such grace when Loki decided the stray hair in front of his face was in the way of his book, brushing it back.  Loki's hands moved like lovers reuniting after several years, every motion full of meaning and emotion, every flick of his fingers a passion filled kiss.

In the end, Tony watched for as long as he could, not understanding the story or motions Loki was making, but enjoying it regardless.  These were the moments Tony treasured, the moments where Loki's bitter, sarcastic nature would disappear, revealing a passionate and desirable man.  And Tony loved it.  At some point during the watching of the story, Tony fell asleep again, dreaming of nothing.  Tony had believed that Loki didn't know he had woken up, believing his attempt at remaining as asleep-like as possible had worked.


	2. Loki

Once Tony's breathing returned to normal, Loki smiled.  If his lover had believed that breathing slower would trick the Trickster into believing he had not awoken, he was horribly mistaken.  One way or another, Loki's fingers moved without halt over the light, his inability to sleep vexing him greatly.  He had hoped to entertain himself with the blue light he loved staring at, but it had not helped him fall back asleep.

He huffed and traced the circumference of the reactor with his index finger, his touch light as a feather, a soft caress.  He hated the dark, despised it greatly.  Some villain he was, the great Loki who is afraid of the dark, the Avengers would say teasingly, not even having the courtesy to say it behind his back or when he was not there.  They'd be wrong not matter what they said, though, for it was not a fear but a deep appreciation and hate.  He had been alone in the dark for longer than e would have liked, become all to familiar of how shadows can move into one's soul, into the corners of their once lit mind, so vibrant with passion and feeling.  Loki knew the signs of when darkness would take it's next victim, the slight shift in the air when it moves, unseen and unheard by most.  But not him, he felt it constantly, ant he hated every second of it.

That was why, late at night when Tony had slipped into any sort of dream, his nimble fingers would tease the air above the source of the blue light he loved, though he never had the heart to tell Tony how he felt about it.  He knew Tony thought he hated it because the light was blue, but then again, so is the sky and the ocean.  It was something both Loki and Tony had to come face-to-face with at some point in their lives.

As Loki thought about these things, he moved the had that had been telling a story onto the other side of Ton's body, hugging him like he was that last person in the world.  He pressed his lips to the cold metal of the arc reactor and placed his head on Tony's chest.  Thinking for a second and making sure Tony was in fact asleep, Loki began to speak.

"Love, you can't hear this, and you will never be aware of what I am saying in these moments laying alone with you.  I do not believe you can conjure up any example of comparison for my affection for you, my passion for you, my lust.  There is nothing in this world that I would let separate us, or in any of the other worlds.  You are mine and no one will ever change that."  Loki's soft voice spoke to no one but himself really, the message was for Tony, but Loki needed to say it out loud to himself, "I would tear down galaxies for you, entire civilizations, but you wouldn't be very happy with me if I did any sort of thing like that.  I love you."

Closing his eyes, he gripped Tony a little tighter, clinging to him like he was the edge of the cliff he was about to fall over.

And boy did he fall.


	3. Both

Loki awoke slowly, before opening his eyes he stretched his limbs, moaning from the sensation.  It was then he noticed his lover was not in bed with him, his usual space gone cold, so he'd been up for some time.  It was unlike Tony to be the first one up out of the two of them, since Loki would usually be the one up first to make breakfast for himself and watch the calm of the sky that early in the morning.

Loki rolled over and looked at the digital clock on the bed-side-table, it read 5:39am.  The fact that Tony was up this early had just gotten all the more strange, since the alarm that was set for him didn't actually go off until-

 _BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!_  The alarm sounded, the time now 5:40am.  The time that Tony had set on the clock for as long as Loki can remember.  Before Loki had any more time to ponder or think of theories about why Tony was up so early, his lover knocked softly on the ajar door.

"Loki?  Are you up yet?"  Tony asked, his voice low, "I made us breakfast."

"Of course I'm up, Stark.  Now please, come in and lay with me?  Your spot has gotten cold."  Loki answered, patting the spaces where Tony usually laid during the night.

Loki heard some dishes knock together as Tony walked in, the door swinging open.  Tony held a large tray in his hands, pancakes and waffles set out on plates with syrup already drizzled over them.  Tony was breaming at his lover, and Loki instantly knew something was either wrong or something was going to be brought up that Tony would rather not bring up.

"Good morning."  Tony said, setting down the tray on the end of the bed, moving to kiss Loki, "How did you sleep?"

"What is bothering you, Stark?"  Loki replied, moving away from Tony only slightly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."  Tony retorted and attempted to kiss Loki again.  Loki held up his hand and Tony kissed his palm instead.

"Do no lie to  _me,_ love."  Loki insisted, shifting a little and disturbing the tray at the foot of the bed, "Now, what is on you mind?"

"Why were you making shadow puppets with the light of the-"  Tony started moving away from Loki's hand and tapping the reactor on his chest, "this thing.  I thought you pretty much hated it."

Loki smiled and moved to retrieve a waffle from the tray on the bed, taking a bite and holding up a finger.  He swallowed and began talking, "You assumed I hated it because of the colour.  It bothers me in no way, Stark, in fact, it comforts me."

"Why the hell would it comfort you?"  Tony replied.

"You are so damn oblivious."  Loki answered, "I hate the dark, I don't like it in any way.  The reactor is comforting to me because I don't have to sleep in the dark."

"So basically, I'm your nightlight."  Tony fired and smirked, expecting the soft punch to his arm.  He knelt down next to the bed and put his head in his hands like a child, "So why the shadow puppets?"

"I was bored and couldn't fall asleep."  Loki leaned closer to his lover, "Why so many questions?"

Tony rolled his eyes and shrugged, pouting, "I'm a curious person, you know that.  Or should know that.  Actually, you should definitely know that by now."

"Mhm, I also know you well enough to tell that there is something bothering you."  Loki commented, "Now just be honest and tell me what it is, please?"

Tony sighed, "In that moment, any moment you're like that, you're a different person.  Someone that shows how they feel directly on their face, not someone who uses tricks to deceive people.  And I fully realized something."

"What did you realize?"  Loki asked.

"I truly love every part of you, devious, clever, trickster, compassionate, loving.  It doesn't matter what version of you I wake up with every morning, I love all of it, all of you."  Tony moved closer to Loki and kissed him, "And I want you to know that."

Loki smiled, a true smile free of tricks and deviousness, "I love you too."

**Author's Note:**

> Frostiron Headcannon #301: Sometimes when the couple lays in bed at night and Loki is unable to find sleep, he'll use the light from Tony's arc reactor to create shadow puppets on the ceiling. Loki either doesn't notice or doesn't care that Tony isn't always asleep when he does this, the other man watching silently as the trickster weaves a wordless story against the light.


End file.
